Ezekiel 44:5

Eze 44:5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.

Ver. 5. Mark well, and behold with thine eyes.] Summon the sobriety of thy senses before thine own judgment. See Eze 40:4. The refining of the ministry and discipline of the Church, with the same charge in regard of the excellency of the matter repeated for attention, to Eze 44:17, and laws prescribed to that purpose, Eze 44:17-31.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, set thine hearts.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 5. Mark well, and behold] Take notice of every thing; register all so fully that thou shalt be able to give the most minute information to the children of Israel.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. He is commanded to give heed to all the ordinances and laws regulating the future service of the house.

entering in of the house] The phrase to the end of the verse is a general designation for all the functions of the house, those who shall be permitted to enter it (Eze_44:10-14), with the manner of their going in and coming out (Eze_44:17-21).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord said unto me, son of man,.... This is still the voice of the Lord speaking out of the house to the prophet, Eze 43:6,

mark well; or, "set thine heart" (f); be attentive to what is about to be said, as being of great concern and importance:

and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee; heart, eyes, and ears, are all to be employed in the most diligent manner in regarding the things hereafter delivered; the same expressions exciting attention were used at the first of this vision, Eze 40:4, concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; See Gill on Eze 43:11,

mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary; the way of entrance into the Gospel church, and the manner of exclusion from it, and the laws and rules concerning these; the prophet is bid particularly to observe these well, because it was in these things God's professing people chiefly offended, as appears by what follows; they were not so careful as they should have been in the admission of persons among them, or in the exclusion of delinquents.

(f) "pone cor tuum", V. L. Vatablus, Paguinus, Montanus; "pone ad cor tuum", Starckius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ways, or "the going in," and all that concerns the temple and sacrifices.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The whole of the first part of this verse is found at Eze 40:4, where it is explained.

The ordinances; the prescribed rules for persons and things in and about the temple; these ordinances are called laws in this verse.

Mark well; set thy mind, that thou mayst comprehend them all.

The entering in; not so much the gates and porches, through which the entrance is to the house, as the persons who may, and who may not, enter.

The sanctuary, taken here largely for the holy courts, rather than for the house itself.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Having fallen on his face before the renewed theophany, the prophet was summoned as once before, (Eze_40:4) but with greater emphasis than before, to mark well, or set his heart to observe, the communications about to be made to him concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and. all the laws thereof, (see on Eze_43:11) more especially with regard to the persons who should have a right to participate in its services.

The attentive consideration of religious truth.

Ezekiel was to mark well the minute directions which were given to him concerning the temple. He was not a builder, and there is no reason to think that he was expected to consider these matters with a view to carrying out the work of constructing the new temple. But it was important that he should attend to the suggestiveness of every detail, because all that was here set forth was symbolical of spiritual truth. The smallest points of this truth should be considered with exactness, while every effort is made to grasp and comprehend it in its vast length and breadth.

I RELIGIOUS TRUTH IS WORTHY OF ATTENTIVE CONSIDERATION, Great attention is required for a man"s business if that is to be made successful. Politics absorb the thoughts of those who are much engaged in them. Pleasure, and what is called "sport" command earnest attention. Is it right that these things should occupy all a man"s faculties, and that religion should be treated in an off-hand style as not worth much thought? Yet the conduct of multitudes would suggest that this supreme interest could be sufficiently considered by occasional and listless attendance at public worship. But note how important it is.

1. It concerns God. Surely he Maker of all things, Ruler of the universe, "in whom we live and move and have our being," our Father and our God is worthy of some thoughtful attention.

1. It concerns our duty. The chief thing to be thought of is what we ought to do. To give much attention to our worldly interests and pleasures, and to treat our duty with thoughtless indifference, is to show shameful negligence of what is supremely important to us.

2. It concerns our eternal welfare. Religion is a matter of life and death. Its truth embraces eternity. When the petty affairs of this brief life are forgotten, its mighty issues will still proceed to work our highest blessedness or our utter destruction.

II RELIGIOUS TRUTH NEEDS ATTENTIVE CONSIDERATION. It is not to be taken in with indolent ease. A man cannot comprehend his Bible at a glance, as he would his newspaper. Religious truth requires thought for several reasons.

1. It is remote from our common experience. It should not be so; but sin has introduced an entirely different train of ideas. We require an effort to bring thoughts of religion vividly to mind.

2. It is concerned with great mysteries. We can never understand it perfectly; but there is room in it for the explorations of the greatest minds. We must never forget, indeed, that its most precious pearls are for simple, childlike minds; that God has revealed to babes what he has hidden from the wise. (Mat_11:25) But who giver such absorbing attention to what interests them as children? We just need the child"s whole-hearted listening, as when he drinks in a tale, every detail of which he pictures to himself in his fresh imagination.

III RELIGIOUS TRUTH SHOULD RECEIVE ATTENTIVE CONSIDERATION. We now come to the practical point How are we to give full attention to this great subject? Ezekiel suggests three ways.

1. We must fix attention. "Mark well." The mind tends to float away from difficult subjects. The anchor to hold it is some keen interest. The love of truth, or, better, the love of Christ, should serve as such an anchor.

2. We must look into truth. "And behold with thine eyes, and "hear with thine cars." We must, so to speak, visualize truth. To make it real we must see it before us. But first we must look for it. There is a seeing and hearing by experience that is better than all indirect testimony. As soon as we thus come into personal contact with truth it is likely to be interesting to us. Then it is a real thing. Above all, it is well to follow the Greeks, who "would see Jesus," and by living experience to know him for ourselves.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The entering - The persons who may, and who may not enter. The sanctuary - Taken here for the courts, rather than the house itself.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.